Day 189: Class Reunion Part 2

George is pictured here with the cake he baked for our reunion dinner.  He's one of the many talented, generous classmates who contributed to this wonderful weekend.  

Day 188: Class Reunion Part 1

Awesome time with great friends!  

Day 187: Swirling water

Tomorrow the FHS Class of 1967 will hold a reunion to celebrate 45 years since graduation.  Months of planning and preparation by our committee will finally come to fruition.  We've really enjoyed meeting every few weeks ever since September.  It was very difficult to locate all our classmates and there were about ten we weren't able to find.  Some of the invitations came back and we never found another address.  What's really puzzling is why some invitations were neither delivered or returned.  I heard from a friend this week that her sister never got hers, yet it wasn't returned.  Where did it go?

The real kicker is that I got a call from a classmate tonight who complained that she never got any information on the reunion.  It turns out that she got remarried in 1997 and moved away so her name and address on our lists were wrong.  Then her husband died and she came back to Fredonia.  She said at least three people on the committee knew her name and address change, yet no one ever mentioned it   this year, five years ago or ten years ago.  I apologized ten times, but I could tell that she was hurt and I can't blame her.  We've worked so hard to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible, but apparently, some of our classmates are getting a bit forgetful.

Since it was so hot today I spent hours in the pool and swam a mile, finishing up the laps at 10:00.  One of my favorite things in the world is swimming under the stars.  As I backstroke across the pool with the big dipper over my head, I give thanks for such wondrous nights and the opportunity to do what I love.

Swirling Water

Double Firecracker

Day 186: Independence Day!

I miss my kids so much on holidays.  We have always gone to see the fireworks display in Dunkirk Memorial Park on the 4th of July.  The kids would wave glow sticks and have cotton candy or waffles. When the light show started, they named each individual explosion after one of the characters from Gilligan's Island.  Now, they never watched Gilligan's Island, but their Aunt Mary did.  If the display was sparkly gold, it was a "Lovey".  Red, white and blue displays were "Skippers".  Plain fireworks were "professors" or "MaryAnns".  Big, showy displays were called "Gingers".   It was so much fun.  Tonight, Steve, Mary and I followed our old tradition of eating waffles, drinking fresh squeezed lemonade and enjoying the dazzling fireworks displays.   I hope the kids were watching fireworks in NYC and calling out "Skipper" or "MaryAnn".


We topped the evening off by watching the first half of "Independence Day", one of our favorite sci fi movies.

American Revolution

Beautiful Edgings

Kwan Yin

Lady Dianthus

Day 185: Little Rainbow

Whether gaudy and bold or soft and demure, lilies are captivating.  Depending on the day and my mood, I am drawn to different blooms.  Today, graceful Little Rainbow sparkled.

Little Rainbow

Siloam Golden Gate

Bridal Suite

Day 184: Pirate's Patch

When a new daylily is hybridized, it must be given a unique name to distinguish it  from all other lily varieties.  Mr. Nass told us that the members of the Buffalo area hosta club each suggest a new name to suit the characteristics of the new lily and then the hybridizer selects the name from the options and the person who offered the name gets a prize.  Hybridizers often preface the names with their own label to identity them.  For example, his lilies are in the Chautauqua line like Chautauqua Cha Cha Cha or Chautauqua Embers.  Sometimes, we have purchased lilies simply because we love the name, such as Nano Probe and Fat Lady Sings.  Steve favors lilies with names related to fire or historical themes like Geneva Fire truck and American Revolution.

So on this trip, I mostly picked lilies that were two-toned and ruffled: Trading Places, Spacecoast Firestarter, Mephistopheles, Yazzo Wild Violet, Shinto Etching, Chautauqua Embers, Pirate's Patch, Little Fred, Raspberry Beret, Hot Town, Siloam Golden Gate, Double Firecracker and Chance Encounter.    We planted all the new lilies and moved several others that were not getting enough sun to the birdbath bed.  Pirate's Patch and Raspberry Buffet are my new favorites.

Shrimp flower

Pirate's Patch

Raspberry Beret

Day 183: Nass Daylily Farm

Today I'm halfway through the 366 photo blog project!  It's been such fun and I know I have become a better photographer with all the additional practice.  The daily regimen has prompted me to look at my surroundings more carefully and to approach each subject from different perspectives in order to get better quality photos.  In addition, I've created a record of our activities and travels from the entire year.

We spent the morning with Harold and Janet Nass at their daylily farm in Westfield.  Hundreds of varieties of lilies in forty beds are very close to peak bloom.  Lilies in vivid colors, with ruffles, double layers of petals come in varied sizes and intensities.  I planned to pick out ten, but wound up with a baker's dozen.  They are simply irresistible!  Mr. and Mrs. Nass are branching out into varieties of Echinacea now, but coneflowers do not interest me at this time.

After swimming a half mile, we were off to Sean's graduation party.  Mr. Indispensible, the master of all stage craft, will be greatly missed.